“You forgot to say ‘Uno’!” Lang Giang cheerfully exclaims before covering her mouth in laughter. It’s the twelfth time she’s caught me this trip and blocked me from winning. By this point in our trek, day four of six, Giang feels more like a friend than my tour guide through Sapa.

Once the sun slips beneath the shimmering waves slathering the sky with soft pinks, reds and oranges, the green lamps of the squid boats strung across the horizon blink on and resemble a series of ellipses as if the ocean is trying to articulate the unsayable.

As the planet-wide dumpster fire that was 2018 comes to a close, we’d like to take a moment to look back at the year in Hẻm Gems through our first-ever Golden Plastic Stool Awards. These will honor some of our favorite local eateries from the past 12 months across four categories: Best Vietnamese Food, Best Non-Vietnamese Food, Best Ambiance and Best Cafe/Bar. We’ll also take a moment to honor our favorite Hẻm Gems that were shuttered this year.

Firmly established as the international school of choice in Ho Chi Minh City, the British International School is a selective, independent and co-educational day school that provides a diverse international education measured by British standards.

FMP’s Saigon International Mother & Baby Association (SIMBA) hopes you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year—and is delighted to announce that our SIMBA gatherings will be resumed this month!

It’s hard to feel optimistic about Vietnam’s public health these days, what with the country recently making the list of top 10 global alcohol consumers and food safety a continued concern. Now, to add to these concerns, Hanoi’s air pollution was so bad on Wednesday that the capital became the second-most polluted city in the world, according to a global air quality index.

Specifically, the air quality index (AQI) in Hanoi yesterday morning read 245, indicating “very unhealthy” levels of smog, reports VnExpress. This reading placed the city behind only India’s Ardali Bazar, which topped the chart at 471. China’s Chengdu and Beijing also made the list, recording 176 and 152, respectively. According to AirNow, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality website, a “very unhealthy” reading – from 201 to 300 – signifies a dangerous level of pollution that may cause serious respiratory issues for everyone, not just vulnerable individuals.

The reading came from an air monitoring system stationed within the US Embassy at 7 Lang Ha and was analyzed by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to VnTinNhanh.

This ranking originated from Aqicn.org, which uses data collected from the Vietnam Center for Environment Monitoring under the Environment Ministry, the United Nations International School of Hanoi and the US Embassy in Hanoi, VnExpress reports. The Beijing-based global index also collects readings from US embassies in China and environmental agencies worldwide to assess air pollution in 60 countries.

Nonetheless, VnTinNhanh quoted a statement by the US Embassy which stressed that despite the grim result, the reading doesn’t reflect a complete picture of the city’s pollution as it is only based on one location.

Hoang Duong Tung, deputy director of the Environment Department at the Ministry of Resources and Environment, also echoed the embassy’s assessment. He believes that the 245 reading only shows the immediate level of pollution and is not conclusive proof that Hanoi is the second-most polluted city in the world.

“The AQI usually shows a daily average, not an hourly average. The monitoring system will record [air quality] every five minutes to calculate the hourly average to eventually show the daily average,” Tung told the news source. “Even a breeze can give the index a boost.”

He also added that Hanoi’s air could be getting worse due to the shift in seasonal weather patterns to a drier climate, as well as farmers in nearby provinces burning hay.